Lie 2: Your Sin is Special

(A series on lies sin tells us to tempt us and trick us. Join me in exposing sin’s lies to God’s Word in this 8 part series.)

We don’t like to talk about our sin because we think people will judge us.

So we believe a lie that keeps us isolated and alone, one that falsely inflates our egos.

We believe our sin is special.

Convinced people won’t understand why we sin, we hide it. After all, they don’t know what leads us to make our choices. Despite what the old adage suggests, nobody, by walking a mile in another person’s shoes, knows the feel of the fit on the shoe owner’s feet.

It’s true- we are all individual people, with individual accounts to give before God. But when our individualized sin appears to be what’s special about us, we have a problem.

The inflation makes it seem as though our sins and our identities are one in the same. This lie makes a mess of our relationships, our concept of honesty, and our sense of shame. It makes a mess of us, melding us into people who hold sin in high regard.

When we believe our sins are special, then:

Talking about them is risky

Our excuses seem valid

Others can’t get close to our real, imperfect selves

Sin’s isolating effect is falsely normalized

Sin looks way bigger than it is

We compare our sins

The forgiver of our sins seems under-equipped

Case Study: Comparison
Comparison suggests our sins are "special" because they are too little or too much.
We hesitate to tackle our sins when they seem so much worse than those around us face. At the same time, we sometimes excuse our sins when we compare our failings to the “bigger” sins of people we know.
Comparing our sins’ to others can entice us to blame others for our errors, minimize or exaggerate our own sins, and judge other people for theirs’.
Comparison is just another way sin deceives us about the special and personal quality of forgiveness by Christ.

God is a knower of hearts. He knows more about our hearts than even we do. As He forms our hearts, He calls them special, good, and precious in His sight.

God believes we’re special.

Notice: it is not our sin He calls special. It’s us.

His proclamation of our value is demonstrated in this: Jesus sent His son to die for us, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life- freely (John 3:16.) It is for freedom Christ has set us free (John 8:36.)

Our freedom to be especially who He made us to be is humbling and precious.

We are uniquely created by Him and for Him- sin is a condition He didn’t choose for us and will remove for us.

Because we are special to Him, He takes special care to deal with our unique sin, forgiving these hearts He knows so well.

0 Replies to “Lie 2: Your Sin is Special”

I will testify that this is true because I believed the lie.
“No one will forgive you”
“You have actually gone too far”
“You are a wretched person who is worthless”
“Your life will never be better, you deserve this”
“You will forever live in shame over your vile behavior”

and the lie list goes on….
PRAISES TO GOD for freedom, Truth and restoration!!

What a list, Dana. Mine looks similar. In fact I just muttered to myself that I am a disgusting human being…mostly because I sneezed all over the place, but I think things like those you mentioned all the time. Thanks for bringing it home and praising the Lord for freedom from lies with me!!

Wow. Wow. Wow.
This post is so spot on for our culture — and particularly our Christian culture (unbelievably!). Have you listened to anything from the Gospel Coalition by Rosaria Butterfield? She’s all over this issue of “domesticating” our sin.
I’m behind on my reading, but want to look up the earlier posts in this series.

Thank you Michele! I love the Gospel Coalition articles…never realized there was speaking! Will be looking it up when I have time soon : ) Thanks for the recommendation and encouragement! I hope you enjoy the series- and feel free to contact about guest posting if you want to join in!